Japan Fukushima-Daiichi nuclear power plant blog
Tracking Fukushima news from day 1 : | Now one of the world's largest Public Available Repositories of the Chronology of the Daiichi Nuclear ongoing Disaster.
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In the months following the 2011 meltdowns at Japan's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, residents of Los Angeles were being exposed to levels of dangerous alpha radiation nearly 1,000 times above normal levels, a government study found.

The data came from a July 2012 presentation at the National Conference on Radiation Control. The presentation was given by Joji Ortego, Principal Radiation Protection Specialist for Los Angeles County Radiation Management.

Following the Fukushima meltdowns, Los Angeles county heard many concerns from residents about the potential health impacts of radiation crossing the Pacific Ocean from the disaster. So they commissioned a study of radiation levels in the area. The report notes that federal agencies delayed in providing information to the county, and that the state Radiologic Health Branch was unable to provide inspectors due to budget constraints. The state lab was unable to provide a reasonable turnaround time for sample analysis, so the county instead hired a local radiation monitor manufacturer for the analysis.

Radiation levels exceed federal thresholds

Samples were taken between April 29 and May 2, 2011, approximately seven weeks after the radioactive releases from Fukushima. The county found that gross alpha radiation levels at a location in Los Angeles were 300 femtocuries per cubic meter (fCi/m3), and levels at a Hacienda Heights location were 200 fCi/m3.

Throughout the world, the name Fukushima has become synonymous with nuclear disaster and running for the hills. Yet, Fukushima may be one of the least understood disasters in modern times, as nobody knows how to fix neither the problem nor the true dimension of the damage. Thus, Fukushima is in uncharted territory, a total nuclear meltdown that dances to its own rhythm. Similar to an overly concerned parent, TEPCO merely monitors but makes big mistakes along the way.

Over time, bits and pieces of information about Fukushima Prefecture come to surface. For example, Arkadiusz Podniesinski, the noted documentary photographer of Chernobyl, recently visited Fukushima. His photos and commentary depict a scenario of ruination and anxiety, a sense of hopelessness for the future.

Ominously, the broken down Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant looms in the background of everybody’s life, like the seemingly indestructible iconic image of destruction itself, Godzilla with its signature “atomic breath.”

Podniesinski’s commentary clearly identifies the blame for the nuclear accident, namely: “It is not earthquakes or tsunami that are to blame for the disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station, but humans. The report produced by the Japanese parliamentary committee investigating the disaster leaves no doubt about this. The disaster could have been foreseen and prevented. As in the Chernobyl case, it was a human, not technology, that was mainly responsible for the disaster,” Photographer and Filmmaker Arkadiusz Podniesinski Visits Fukushima, Axis of Logic, Dec. 27, 2015.

Four years after the fact, more than 120,000 residents are not able to return home. Radiation zones have been established with the color red demarcating the highest levels of radioactive contamination, the Red Zone, meaning > 50 mSv/y. There is no decontamination work in Red Zones. It is unlikely that residents will ever return, although the Abe government claims otherwise.

Radiation is accumulative. As a general rule, a person can only survive for one hour with exposure of 1 Sv/hour or 1,000 mSv/hour. The recommended lifetime human dosage of radiation should be less than 500 mSv. A chest x-ray produces 0.10 mSv. The standard limit for nuclear workers worldwide is 20 mSv/year (Source: Radiation Survival Cheat Sheet). However, Fukushima, because of the emergency, allows workers to receive up to 100-mSv exposure before they must leave the site

Within Fukushima, Orange Zones are designated as less contaminated but still uninhabitable because radiation levels run 20-50 mSv/y, but decontamination work is underway. Residents are allowed to visit homes for short duration only during the daytime. However, as it happens, very few people are seen. Most of the former residents do not want to go back and the wooden houses in many of the towns and villages are severely dilapidated.

Friday, 13 November 2015

Much of what we know about the link between cancer and radioisotopes released during nuclear disasters is from the studies in the aftermath of the 1986 nuclear disaster of Chernobyl.

The disaster at Chernobyl released 4 different isotopes including Strontium-90, Plutonium-239, Iodine-131 and Cesium-137. Of these, I-131 is particularly of concern as it accumulates in the body just like non-radioactive Iodine. I-131 can be ingested from the environment as well as through food and can stay in the body for a long time despite its 50% degradation rate of 8 days in the environment.

In this March 15, 2011 file photo, a child is screened for radiation exposure at a testing center in Koriyama city, Fukushima Prefecture, northeast of Tokyo, after a nuclear power plant on the coast of the prefecture was damaged by March 11 earthquake. A new study says children living near the Fukushima nuclear meltdowns have been diagnosed with thyroid cancer at a rate 20 to 50 times that of children elsewhere, a difference the authors contend undermines the government’s position that more cases have been discovered in the area only because of stringent monitoring. Most of the 370,000 children in Fukushima have been given ultrasound checkups since the March 2011 meltdowns at the tsunami-ravaged Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant. Thyroid cancer has been diagnosed in 137 of those children, though more broadly the disease occurs in only about one or two of every million children. (AP Photo/Wally Santana, File)

The National Cancer Institute also found that the likelihood of thyroid cancer increased with each dose of I-131, with the risk doubling with each unit of radiation. In this context, the butterfly shaped organ wrapping around your windpipe, the thyroid can become a deadly cancer. The Fukushima accident, where three of nuclear reactor cores melted due to a failure of the cooling systems caused by a 15m tsunami (Read more on Fukushima disaster and its effect on nature).

The main radionuclide among the volatile fission products in the Fukushima disaster was I-131. Since March 2011, 370,000 children have been given routine ultrasound checkups in the Fukushima prefecture. The screening is a proactive step taken by the government of Japan to ensure the early detection of thyroid cancer among evacuees and vulnerable population.

A recent study led by Toshihide Tsuda based on the data from Fukushima Medical University shows that among those screened, 137 children have been detected positive for Thyroid cancer with an increase of 25 cases from last year. This is a sharp contrast from other regions where the disease occurs in 2 out of every million kids.

Call to Europeans to use the existing regulations to challenge the "Dose" method employed by Nuclear Health Physicists and the ICRP.

There was a Symposium at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in Stockholm on Nov 3rd.
It was held jointly by the Swedish National Council for Nuclear Waste and the Swedish National Committee for Radiation Protection Research. The issue was the health effects of releases associated with the project to dispose of high level nuclear waste at Forsmark on the Baltic Sea. Dr Busby has put in 2 reports to the Swedish Environmental Council in 2010 and 2012 which drew attention to the massive errors in the current ICRP model upon which the project depends. The requirement is that there are no significant doses to any future resident of the area for 100,000 years. Sweden, like all European States is subject to the EURATOM Basic Safety Standards Directive which contains a clause, an amendment by the European Greens in 1996 at the suggestion of Busby, Alice Stewart, Alexy Yablokov and Rosalie Bertell. It states that if "New and important Evidence" emerges that the risk model is wrong, all practices involving radiation exposure in the EU must be Justified all over again. Here, Chris Busby attacks the risk model and those who had presented extremely biased science through-out the day of the symposium. He draws attention particularly to the recent publication in the journal Epidemiology which reports 120 thyroid cancers in 380,000 children living near Fukushima. This shows an error in the ICRP model of 2600 times.

Highest Recorded Radioactive City in America this week A definitely UN-familiar Leader again in the race for the Most Radioactive Weather in America this week is Little Rock, Arkansas! Congrats to Little Rock, Arkansas as the most Radioactive City in America for this week.

Thirty-three (33) cities exceeded 1,000 CPM this week. Another Eleven (9) cities are clustered between 900 and 999 CPM, ready to Break Out at any time. Stay Alert and take all appropriate precautions. The Rad peak from the Oct 30 – September Rad contagion is not going away. Instead the Rad poison has spread all over the country and settled in for the long haul. The most prevalent isotope, Cesium 137, takes a daunting 600 years to decay to infinitesimal levels. It is not even particularly long-lived radiation. The Cesium will remain, though; we won’t.

A British Columbia man who posted a video calling for the death of scientists whose research shows the Fukushima nuclear accident is not destroying the Pacific has been charged with two counts of criminal harassment.

Dana Dumford Shortly after being arrested on listed claims of two counts of two counts of criminal harassment

The charges were laid against Dana Durnford of Powell River shortly after he posted a video on YouTube defending the attack on Jay Cullen, a chemical oceanographer at the University of Victoria, and another researcher.

The Globe and Mail reported on Monday that Dr. Cullen, who co-ordinates a radioactivity monitoring network that includes researchers from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, several Canadian universities and Health Canada, came under attack after reporting Fukushima radiation levels in the Pacific are extremely low.

In a video posted on Wednesday, Mr. Durnford, who was not named in the initial story, questioned the accuracy of that report.

“Now, if Jay Cullen was getting death threats, you know I’d be in jail, most likely, and so would a lot of other people. Yep. And so come get me. I’m right here,” Mr. Durnford said.

In a video posted on Thursday, he said he had just been charged, and that many of his past videos had been taken down.

“You can find my presentations … on YouTube. What is left of them. The night before, I was arrested and the next morning, yesterday morning, I was in court and I was charged with criminal harassment of nuclear industry PR people,” he said. “And one of those was from Woods Hole and the other one was from UVic, British Columbia, Canada.”

Those who know of Dana, know he comes with a great deal of passion and his fair share of controversy. This is neither here nor there at the moment, as the real issue is what is at stake for each and every personal journalist who has spent the hard yards and countless hours documenting and reporting this ongoing World crisis.

Over night, tens of videos were either removed or were made to be removed from his fukushima coverage channel.

The fact that he called out pro-nuclear cohort members seems to be the failing in his reporting attempts.

Donation pages and funds have been set up in order to help with the court and representation costs.

It is a reminder of how fine a line we all travel. Be careful folks.

"IT'S A MAD MAD MAD MAD MAD MAD WORLD WHEN YOU CAN WITH IMPUNITY CHARGE $600 TO TEST A BUCKET OF SEA WATER FOR Cs134 MINIMIZE THE SERIOUSNESS OF THE RESULTS SLEEP IN A WARM DRY BED AT NIGHT & THEN TURN AROUND & CHARGE A DISABLED MAN IN A WHEELCHAIR WHO HAS RISKED HIS LIFE AGAIN & AGAIN ON THE HIGH SEAS (IN ORDER TO DO THE WORK THAT YOU OUGHT TO HAVE DONE BUTCHOSE NOT TO DO ) WITH CRIMINAL HARASSMENT BECAUSE OF METAPHORS THAT HE ALLEGEDLY USED WHEN HE WAS BOTH TOTALLY EXASPERATED & PHYSICALLY EXHAUSTED!YOU SEE THIS DISABLED MAN ONCE HE LET IT BE KNOWN THAT HE INTENDED TO DOCUMENT THE 'PACIFIC GENOCIDE' ENDURED THREE BRAZEN ATTEMPTS ON HIS LIFE & WAS HARASSED HOUNDED PUBLICLY LIBELED & SLANDERED 24/7 BY THE CONTROLLED OPPOSITION WHO WANTED HIM SILENCED!AS YOU CAN SEE THE ASSAULT IS ONGOING!

Thursday, 5 November 2015

[snip]

Japan Times, Nov 4, 2015 (emphasis added): The former Japanese ambassador to Switzerland,Mitsuhei Murata, recently suggested that Japan should stage an ‘honorable retreat’ from hosting the 2020 Olympics due to the unpredictable situation at the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.

Japan Times (Hotline to Nagatacho — Brian Victoria, Kyoto), Nov 4, 2015:[Former Japanese ambassador to Switzerland, Mitsuhei Murata, recently proposed… for Japan to stage an “honorable retreat” from hosting the 2020 Olympics… In the September issue of Gekkan Nippon, Murata… noted the danger still posed by large numbers of spent fuel rods suspended in spent fuel pools in reactors 1, 2 and 3 [which] can’t be removed from the damaged reactor buildings due to the high levels of radioactivity surrounding these reactors… Murata’s gravest concern is a number of troubling indications of recurring criticality [ i.e. uncontrolled nuclear chain reactions] in one or more of the reactors at Fukushima No. 1. For example, he notes that in December 2014, both radioactive iodine-131 and tellurium-132 were reported as having been detected in Takasaki city, Gunma Prefecture [~130 miles SW of Fukushima Daiichi]. Given the short half-lives of these radioactive particles, their presence could not be the result of the original meltdowns at Fukushima.

Monday, 2 November 2015

One of the deadly elements that cannot be removed thus far by the troubled ARRIVA filtration plant for sea water at Fukushima Nuclear Melt-down, is the Tritium radioactive isotope. A bone seeking cancer causer, it has troubled Nuclear watchers that it was being released into the Pacific unfiltered.This, within itself is a misnomer, as TEPCO online list certain radioactive elements in their Press releases as the ones being filtered. They neglect to mention the myriad of other highly deadly and toxic elements such as Plutonium, Uranium, Americium and a host of others.That being said, this device is a step in the right direction.[snip]Hydrogenics CorporationOctober 21, 2015 6:30 AMGlobeNewswire
MISSISSAUGA, Ontario, Oct. 21, 2015 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) --Hydrogenics Corporation(HYGS) (HYG.TO) a leading developer and manufacturer of hydrogen generation and hydrogen-based fuel cell power modules, today announced that it has completed the construction and shipment of a hydrogen electrolyzer to Kurion Inc. of Irvine, California to be used in a pilot plant for the cleanup of tritiated waste water.Kurion (www.kurion.com) is a world leader in the treatment of nuclear and hazardous waste for safe, secure and permanent disposal. Kurion has developed a technology to safely extract the radioactive isotope tritium from water and is building a pilot plant.Hydrogenics is pleased to have its PEM electrolysis technology selected by Kurion and is looking forward to integrating the system into the pilot plant in the weeks ahead.
Daryl Wilson, Hydrogenics CEO, stated, "We are excited to provide our megawatt platform PEM electrolysis technology to Kurion for this critical application. Kurion is a company with world-leading technologies for the isolation and stabilization of radioactive waste, including water containing the radioactive isotope tritium.
We look forward to demonstrating the viability of our electrolysis technology to Kurion as they help their customers clean up contaminated environments around the globe."
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/hydrogenics-supplies-pem-electrolyzer-kurion-103000434.html[end snip]Whilst this device is slated for sale in the US and Canada, there is no stopping it being utilized at the ongoing Fukushima multiple nuclear melt down still ongoing...

It came as no surprise, to those following the ongoing nuclear melt-downs at Fukushima, and the continuation of pouring seawater to cool the Corium masses, the T.E.P.C.O would "simply run out of room" for the highly radioactive waste water created and stored in the large tanks on the site.

"We knew they would have to eventually dump into the Ocean", stated Ray Masalas, of the International Watch Group, Rainbow Warriors. "Not only were they illegally transferring waste into the ocean before seeking permission from affected groups, but they continue the practice now daily"

T.E.P.C.O have continually tried to allay Global concern over the illegal (by international treaties and definition) releases of radioactive cooling water into the Pacific Ocean.

A List of Failed T.E.P.C.O mitigation attempts.

1. Diversion channels for ground water around the reactors

2. Sea barrier in the harbor wall

3. ARRIVA filtration system

4. Ice wall around the reactors

5. On site storage tanks.

Since the failure of the above mentioned, TEPCO have no choice but to pour the cooling water straight back into the Pacific Ocean from whence it came, after assurances that this practice was never going to happen.

The implications and ramifications for the Pacific ocean, and food chains around the world, is a fact and an eventuality, no longer a possibility.

As this is a first time Global crisis phenomenon, there is no data, no science and no research to lead us on with a solution, nor guide us with any protective measures as to the ongoing crisis.

TEPCO released the following information on sheer volume of the highly toxic, deadly radiocative releases going on, on a daily basis from Fukushima.

The World's Media is silent, and one has to conjecture that it is because of the enormity and scale of this crisis on a Global level, that they choose to remain so.

Sunday, 1 November 2015

The Fukushima disaster is radiantly exposed in the Pacific Ocean, but as for people behind the disaster, it is treated like the Manhattan Project, circa 1942… Top Secret!

Still, “It’s against international law to dump radioactivity into the sea, but that is precisely what is happening on a daily basis,” according to Dr. Keith Baverstock, former regional adviser for Radiation and Public Health, World Health Organization (“WHO”), speaker at the Citizen-Scientist International Symposium on Radiation Protection, October 23, 2015.

As intimated by Dr. Baverstock, inexplicably Fukushima is immune to international law, standards, and conventions, and nobody cares enough to do anything about it.

Surely, nobody intentionally caused the disaster behind the meltdown, similar to a chain reaction of falling dominoes: an earthquake, tsunami, massive flooding, black-outs, loss of power, hydrogen explosions, nuclear meltdown, and four years of highly radioactive water spewing into the Pacific Ocean, and who knows what else or where else?

But, “cause” is not the issue with Fukushima. The issue is whether nuclear power is a satisfactory source of energy, whether it is safe. In that regard, Angela Merkel (61), PhD physics, University of Leipzig and current chancellor of Germany is shutting down all nuclear reactors because of the Fukushima incident. Germany favors renewable sources of energy like solar and wind. Meanwhile, Japan’s PM Abe (61), a graduate in political science from Seikei University, is reopening nuclear power plants as quickly as possible, proving that politics overrides science.

In stark contrast to the German chancellor’s take on nuclear power, the pro-nuke crowd claims highly radioactive water, which has been flowing out of the Fukushima complex like crazy for four years straight, becomes so diluted within the vastness of the Pacific Ocean that there is nothing to worry about. But, their cleverness merely prompts a raised eyebrow amongst people who closely follow the Fukushima scenario.

As it happens, buried within Fukushima’s complexities the public encounters an enigma, as expressed by Dr. Baverstock, “I’m really appalled at the way the international system has failed… Quite frankly, we don’t get anything through the media… There is no general understanding of the situation here in Europe, because the media are not putting this view forward. In fact, I think many people would be very surprised that it was still a matter for discussion. They would be even more surprised to learn that it’s still an ongoing accident, and that it hasn’t terminated yet… and they would be more surprised to learn that nobody knows how to stop it.”

“Nobody knows how to stop it,” is the storyline in the aftermath of Fukushima.

In point of fact, who can know, who can even follow Fukushima? After all, it’s well known that the Abe administration established a very tight news blackout and instituted severe secrecy laws to prevent a flow of truthfulness. Not only that, but by all appearances, there is a hushed, secretive international protocol amongst the world’s brotherhood of nations to downplay and ignore one of the biggest catastrophic events in recent history, see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil, or in short, turn a blind eye to a very, very ugly situation. Nevertheless, it will not go away! As far as that goes, it may never go away!

The drama behind Japan enacting a state secrecy law in the immediate wake of nuclear meltdown only serves to highlight suspicions about how bad the situation really is. If not for Japan passing an unconstitutional secrecy law (the new secrecy law clearly violates Japan’s constitution), allowing politicianscarte blanche authority to determine what’s a state secret and determine which perceived violators should go to prison for up to 10 years, then outsiders would not have such strong inclinations leading to suspicion, distrust, as well as profound disbelief in the Abe administration, which essentially and obscenely flips the bird to any and all.

Saturday, 24 October 2015

TEPCO released a news release on October 20, 2015 titled "Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station Unit 3 reactor containment vessel
(PCV) for internal survey result of (Bulletin: October 20, carried out in minutes)" [Japanese Version], they didn't provide an English Version.

TEPCO released inspection video and a PDF of their use of a camera to look inside of what remains of the #3 Reactor at Fukushima. Temperatures were about 30 degrees centigrade and the radiation level about 1 Sievert, One sievert carries with it a 5.5% chance of eventually developing cancer and is equivalent to 100 REM in older measurements. 6 Sieverts is a fatal dose.

In each image, the pictures clearly show extensive damage to the reactor containment vessel. Cracked walls, deposits of material, possibly corium or some burn residue. Fire damage.

In image on page 4 you can see what clearly look like Burn damage on the structures above where the core would be.

On Page 5 they disclose that the walls are badly damaged with support structures pulled away from the containment vessel

What is missing from the images is an image of the Core. TEPCO claimed that #3 exploded with a hydrogen explosion caused by the heat of the reactor cladding and cooling rods catalyzing water separating into hydrogen and oxygen and then burning together. But if that were so there would be remains of reactor all over the place. So the question is,....

Where is the reactor?

The answer is that the explosion was probably part of a "burn out" and the fuel was "aerosolized." The reactor probably got so hot and it's fuel started melting and "flashing" and burning, until enough burned away to quiet the uncontrolled chain reactions. But TEPCO doesn't say where the fuel went. They imply that some if it melted down through the floor. But it is just as likely that those explosions we saw on March 14, 2011. I remember watching the images. And indeed the FOIA Archives describe the situation on the 16th as:

"they described Unit 3 as having a 3 zirconium/water reaction ongoing. And they described 4 Unit 4 spent-fuel pool as having been substantially damaged to the point that the walls were no longer effective at retaining water." [NRC doc]

So we can guess where the reactor is. In our lungs. But of course, we have to keep on asking TEPCO to tell us the truth, because speculation is easy. We need the facts.

Saturday, 17 October 2015

" It may be hard to believe, but it’s already been four years since the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster shook Japan and its agricultural industry to the core. Alas, some wounds are harder to heal than others and the aftermath from that fateful March day can still be felt. The latest challenge is this: growers and the Japanese government have been fighting desperately to assuage fears and regain the trust and markets their food products once proudly held.

The Fukushima nuclear disaster, of course, was an accident that occurred at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, caused by an earthquake and tsunami on March 11, 2011. This was the largest nuclear disaster since the Chernobyl meltdown of 1986.

Japan says it has gone to extensive lengths to ensure that the area surrounding the plant is not contaminated. It also goes without saying that a chief concern of said effort has been to minimize any radioactive contamination in food products and ensure that food does not reach the market if it doesn’t meet the nation’s tough safety laws.

READ: Fukushima Foods Are Now Safe to Eat

So, it should come as no surprise that Japan’s government has decided to pull out all the stops and get their Erin Brockovich on during at the Expo, a recent global food fair held in Milan. Traditional dried peaches and sake—both originating from Japan’s Fukushima prefecture—were offered up as part of a four-day campaign. Japan is obviously hoping to allay the international community’s fears surrounding Japanese foodstuffs post-Fukushima. OK, so unlike Brockovich, the government didn’t actually resort to unveiling the culinary offerings’ origin after people had ingested them, but they are on a campaign to get everyone’s attention.

“Our aim is to communicate the appeal of Fukushima’s traditional cuisine as the region is actively committed to reconstructing itself and ensuring the safety of local food products as well as increasing export and tourism,” stated one spokeswoman.

Fukushima’s prefectural government claims to have a “perfect” and transparent monitoring system in place to monitor and test all products. Over the last six months, Fukushima has reported only a very small percentage of food as having over-the-limit levels of radiation. For example, only one in a million bags of rice tested were found to have hazardous levels of radiation, while only .01 percent of all aquaculture products were deemed unsafe.

Stefan Merz, an environmental scientist from Vienna University of Technology, just this year published an analysis of the staggering 900,000 food samples collected by authorities in the prefecture between 2011 and 2014. Merz and the other researchers’ work has shown that the percentage of products deemed unsafe has decreased from 3.3 to 0.6.

READ: A Lost Soy Sauce Fungus Is Helping Post-Tsunami Japan to Bounce Back“The prefecture not only blocks shipment of these foodstuffs but also restricts the shipment of foodstuffs from municipalities where these contaminated foodstuffs are grown or produced,” reads an information brochure handed out at the Japan pavilion in Milan, stressing that the safety of food products that are on the market “is absolutely ensured.” In short, Japan wants you to know that “you can purchase them without anxiety.”

Still, government reassurances can only go so far. A cursory glance at the comments section on some English language publications shows the prejudice that Fukushima is facing. But it isn’t just foreigners that are skeptical. A survey back in February by the Consumer Affairs Agency in Japan revealed that one in five Japanese shoppers were wary of Fukushima foodstuffs.

But these are still the early stages of recovery for the troubled area of Japan. In September, the first of seven cities finally completely lifted its evacuation order that was put in place after the disaster, but only 200 of some 7,800 residents returned home.

Despite reassurances by the government, it looks as though Fukushima may have a ways to go before everything returns to normal—if it ever will."